Tim's Bio: Life From Da Bassment

Timbaland’s first “proper” solo album is one of those “auteur producer takes the spotlight” joints that’s never hesitant to cede center stage. Maybe it’s because he spends just enough time in it to make it apparent his most interesting ideas are behind the boards. But he seems to know his limitations as a rapper despite his why-not urge to do it anyways, and he saves the best of his beats for his guests whether they’re joined at the hip (Missy, Magoo, Aaliyah, and Static Major all figure prominently) or just stopping in to get a top-dollar sound to geek out over. (Nas and Jay-Z are both let loose to strong effect, but the real coup here is a debuting Ludacris, already doing hilariously improbable Silly Putty-stretching flows on “Fat Rabbit”.) The funny thing is that a lot of these beats are weird in ways that Timbaland wouldn’t often return to. The sawed-off barrelhouse piano on “To My,” the ’60s TV rerun nostalgia two-fer of Spidey-theme cha-cha bounce “Here We Come” and Jeannie-dreaming “Wit’ Yo’ Bad Self,” and the minor-key chords that add a head-tilting vertigo to the otherwise satiny sleekness of Playa-featuring slow jam “Birthday” are just the most startling ones on an album commandeered by a producer out to prove he can, no, must get weirder.